While Ohioans did not head to the polls in the 2025 elections, there has been a massive electoral development thanks to a court victory from Secretary of State Frank LaRose over a state law banning foreign contributions for ballot-measure campaigns.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on an injunction, with LaRose’s office claiming the lawsuit was “brought by liberal activists and their dark-money funded national legal team,” on Oct. 8, 2024. Over a year later, on Nov. 13, that lawsuit was finally dropped. The litigation stems from a legal challenge to a law signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in June 2024 that prevented foreign donations to ballot initiative campaigns.
“The litigation is over, and Ohioans can now be certain that foreign money won’t be used to hijack our state constitution again. With at least six potential ballot issues on the horizon for 2026, this clarity and protection couldn’t come at a better time,†LaRose shared in a statement.
The Ohio Secretary of State also spoke out against dark money influence in the state’s elections.
“For nearly two years, I’ve sounded the alarm about a loophole that allowed foreign money to bankroll statewide ballot campaigns,” LaRose continued. “The General Assembly acted quickly to stop it, and, almost immediately, activist groups sued to keep their foreign dollars flowing. They failed, and Ohio’s ban on foreign dark money has been rightfully upheld. I want to thank my legal team and the attorney general’s office for their work in successfully defending this important law.”
LaRose’s effort to make sure foreign money stays out of campaigns for Ohio ballot initiatives started in January 2024, when the secretary of state called on the state legislature to “close a ‘foreign influence’ loophole in state campaign finance law.†Top of mind for LaRose were concerns about the previous year’s ballot measures and the foreign influence involved. Ohio voters in 2023 approved initiatives to do with abortion access and recreational marijuana legalization.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine called a special session in May 2024 to address both the ballot fix and the issue of foreign influence, also later emphasizing that to get such financial contributions out was “the right thing to do.†He signed that bill, House Bill 1, into law on June 2, 2024.
The law was quickly challenged in court and resulted in U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson, a President George W. Bush appointee, ordering a stay on the law over concerns that the law violated the First Amendment rights of non-U.S. citizens living in the country legally, even though Ohio had already banned foreign donations to candidates or candidate committees. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals stepped in and, at Ohio’s request, issued a stay on the injunction in October 2024 while litigation continued, allowing the ban to remain in effect.
If 2023 seemed like a busy year for ballot initiatives, 2026 is expected to be even busier, calling to mind LaRose’s statement about how “this clarity and protection couldn’t come at a better time.â€
LaRose had similarly spoken about the amount of ballot initiatives as well as warned about the influence of “[d]ark-money special interest groups†when speaking about his vote to approve new congressional maps for 2026 as part of Ohio’s redistricting effort. Had such an agreement not come to be on new maps, Democrats and those “special interest groups†could have challenged the maps via a referendum.
This is not the only election issue to watch for in the Buckeye State. Ohio lawmakers are once more looking to get through a bill to make permanent a specialized election crime investigation unit. Although it passed the legislature, it faced a veto from DeWine. In 2022, LaRose had created a temporary election crime investigation unit, with other states such as Florida, Arkansas, and Texas looking to secure their elections.
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